I believe that everyone should shut up, with Rachael Flatt. I was not fan of her in the beginning, but this is a skater who did great improvement in term of presentation. I credit her for her hard working because she can be stunning like she did at her FS at Nationals : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR2cXbneV-k

And, you know what, I was thinking that this program was the worst program of the beginning of the season and when she comes back with this performance at nationals. She convinced me that her hard work pay off cause I enjoy this program at the end of the season. Rachael is a kind of skater who knows how to sells her program. Sometimes she can be marvelous and other times desastrous.

In addition, she did great for the US at the Olympic. So, I believe that she merits her spot for Skate America
The US knows that she have make significant achievement for them!

It's time that the US look to the future. Johnny is not it. If Jason or Joshua wants to have a shot at the Olympic team they needed to get out there this year. With the US men rather average Josh and Jason could have set themselves up nicely in 2014. Except for Jeremy Abbot Brown and Farris could conceivably pass up the other men who haven't showed they are ready to take the next step. Except for maybe Dornbush i don't see any younger Senior man who's championship material.

Thanks for the correction re: Mao a few pages earlier. I'm happy for Rachel and SA as she was one of the highlights of nationals this year for me. I'm also glad to see Oda (at least his name) again! Hoping Kazuka has a great season. Sad to not see Armin on the list...any chances he gets invited?

FWIW: In its new Facebook post about the GP assignments, the ISU seems to think this is the headline: "There are two possible comebacks for this season! Keep your eyes open for Johnny Weir and Miki Ando." No other skaters are singled out for mention in the brief post, which otherwise just gives a link to the ISU's own website.

It's time that the US look to the future. Johnny is not it. If Jason or Joshua wants to have a shot at the Olympic team they needed to get out there this year. With the US men rather average Josh and Jason could have set themselves up nicely in 2014. Except for Jeremy Abbot Brown and Farris could conceivably pass up the other men who haven't showed they are ready to take the next step. Except for maybe Dornbush i don't see any younger Senior man who's championship material.

They can still have a shot at the 2014 Olympic team if they compete in the JGP this season. Lysacek competed in the JGP the season before the 2006 Olympic season and he went on to place 4th at the 2006 Olympics. It is better to gain experience competing in the JGP than have only one GP event.

Since this year's NHK trophy is in Sendai, the JSF could have some commitments. It's quite apparent they had planned to use this occasion to "encourage" tsunami stricken people in Tohoku region. Hanyu is indispensable as the local star. But putting Takahashi aside for the sake of Hanyu is a little problematic. Doing so could give the impression that the JSF is ready to favor Hanyu over Takahashi. They are still reluctant to embrace the idea after Takahashi's "win" over Patrick Chan. The best case is to assign both of them to NHK trophy. I think ticket sales and TV ratings were not the major concerns this time.

That's what I suspect. JSF is using NHK to determine who's going to be the favorite of the year nationally and internationally. They don't mind putting hard time on Takahashi in such early season and they don't mind if the new comer beat the old favor. It must be hard for the Sendai audience to choose which one they are going to root for. NHK is the most exciting GP event of the year though.

Originally Posted by golden411

FWIW: In its new Facebook post about the GP assignments, the ISU seems to think this is the headline: "There are two possible comebacks for this season! Keep your eyes open for Johnny Weir and Miki Ando." No other skaters are singled out for mention in the brief post, which otherwise just gives a link to the ISU's own website.

Looking back past seasons, the #1 priority of the USFS is obvious -- maximizing the spots for American skaters. Usually only one American (the favorite of the coming season) with two guaranteed spots is assigned to Skate America. They will be able to "assign" skaters who have one guaranteed spot with multiple conditions (WS/SB/junior medals) to overseas without much problems. For the sake of skaters who fulfill only one condition, they have to make some deals with host federations. This year, they have succeeded to give three such skaters (Zhang/Zawadzki/Dornbush) two overseas assignments. Only after that, they can host pick skaters who have no guaranteed spots (Flatt/Gao). I'm quite surprised to see Zawadzki at NHK instead of Nagasu (who has the higer WS and SB). Maybe they can influence other federations' "choices". I think giving a spot to Flatt is a complete waste but that could be considered a major victory for the USFS.